


power of two

by ohvictor



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Engagement, M/M, Multi, Post-Canon, Sappy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 06:58:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16424576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohvictor/pseuds/ohvictor
Summary: Kuro and Chiaki meet for coffee to celebrate their recent engagements.





	power of two

Kuro arrives at the cafe twenty minutes before he and Morisawa agreed to meet. He circles the block a few times, listening to a song on the radio he finds he enjoys, and then parks on the street a block away and walks the difference. He’d dropped Keito off at work minutes before, after taking him on a lunch date. Keito always wants to be early, even though his boss has already taken notice of Keito’s stellar work ethic, so it’s not as though he _needs_ to behave like a new hire. Kuro finds it charming, the way Keito hustles Kuro out of the apartment twenty minutes early each morning, or asks for the check with their food when they meet for lunch. In truth, Kuro finds everything about Keito charming.

Kuro scans the cafe for Morisawa, and finds no trace of him. So he sets his jacket down at a table for two and orders two cups of coffee, which the barista grabs immediately, greeting Kuro brightly and then heading off to fill another order. Two minutes later, Morisawa comes through the door, looks excitedly around the cafe, and makes a beeline for Kuro’s little table.

“Kiryu!” he greets him excitedly. Kuro rises from his seat, expecting Morisawa’s customary full-body hug, but instead Morisawa grabs Kuro’s hands and squeezes them, his eyes sparkling fondly. And then he searches Kuro’s fingers until he finds one half of what they came for: a ring on Kuro’s left ring finger.

It’s a simple gold band with a red stone. Keito has a matching one, which he’s been wearing mostly at home. At work, he’s afraid of people asking questions, and they haven’t told Keito’s family yet, so he doesn’t wear it when visiting home. Kuro wanted rings, so at at their apartment, Keito wears it, and Kuro still hasn’t wrung all the joy out of grabbing Keito’s hand and weaving their fingers together to display the matching rings side by side, and looking up to see Keito’s cheeks flushed pink, accompanied by a soft smile.

“It’s beautiful,” Morisawa whispers. Kuro can see his eyes filling with tears. He’s still the same guy Kuro came to love in high school; he still wears his heart on his sleeve. Kuro hasn’t cried over his ring since the night he put the matching one on Keito’s finger, but he feels like he might now, seeing his dear friend get choked up at the sight.

“Thank you,” Kuro says. He turns his hand in Morisawa’s, cupping Morisawa’s fingers in his own palm. “And yours...”

And there it is, the ring on Morisawa’s ring finger—the other half of why they’re here. Morisawa’s ring is silver, adorned with five small blue stones. As Kuro looks down at it, Morisawa starts to cry.

“K-Kanata’s has red stones,” he clarifies, his voice wobbling.

Kuro looks up, squeezing Morisawa’s hands tightly. “It’s good. Fitting.”

“Thank you.” Morisawa laughs and swipes his hand across his eyes. “Ahh! I knew I was gonna cry! Showing you these rings, it’s like... Somehow, I always knew...” He sniffs. “I knew you’d be by my side when I finally put these pieces together. I must be the luckiest man in the whole world.”

Kuro’s pretty sure that’s _him_ , actually, and watching Morisawa cry is making him tear up as well. He carefully sits down, still holding Morisawa’s hands, and Morisawa scrambles to sit too. He drops Kuro’s hand and picks up his coffee, taking a sip.

“Thank you for ordering this,” he says. “This is a sweet little cafe.”

“I used to take Keito here when he was studyin’ for a big test,” Kuro confesses. “They’ll let you drink coffee and sit for hours as long as you’re quiet. Even let me stay when I dozed off in my chair a few times.”

“That’s wonderful,” Morisawa says. “Where’s Hasumi now? Work?”

“Yeah.” Kuro smiles. “I took him out for lunch, though. Ah, he says hello.”

“Please tell him hi back!” Morisawa beams, taking another sip of coffee. “I told Kanata I was meeting you, and he told me to show off my ring.” Morisawa blushes as he recounts that, which is adorable. “I have, haven’t I?”

“Yeah,” Kuro agrees. “You could show it off more if you want, though; it’s real nice.”

“Thank you!” Morisawa laughs, holding up his hand and tilting it this way and that. The blue stones catch the light nicely. “What does Hasumi’s look like?”

“Same as mine.” Kuro shrugs. “He was worried we’d get ’em mixed up, except my fingers are bigger. So if I put on one of the rings and it doesn’t fit, I know it’s not mine.”

Morisawa nods quickly. “That makes sense!” He stretches out his hands, beaming across the table. “Soooo, how did you ask?”

It’s a little embarrassing to tell such a sappy story, but Kuro wants Morisawa to hear it. He takes a long drink of coffee, and then sets the mug back in its saucer. “I told you what I was thinkin’, right? It ended up being pretty much that. About two weeks ago, I picked him up after we both got off work and took him out to dinner at one of our favorite places, and then we went for a walk down the road ‘cause it was a nice night. I had checked the weather, and I also knew this road had a lot of maple trees, which he likes. So I saw this big tree ahead kinda off the path, and I led him over to it and moved around so we were kinda hidden behind the trunk.” It’s growing hard to speak, the emotions of that night coming back. Kuro takes a breath, grounding himself. “I told him how much he means to me, and how I wanna spend the rest of my life with him. And I think he knew what was happening, ‘cause he kept sighing and covering his face, but he didn’t stop me. So I got down on one knee and took the li’l box out of my coat pocket, and asked him.”

Morisawa’s hands are over his mouth, his eyes glittering with tears as he gazes intently at Kuro. “And??”

“And he—said yes.” Kuro chokes on the words. Morisawa’s hand shoots out and grasps Kuro’s, squeezing tightly. “And I got up and hugged him really tight, and then we put the rings on, and then a maple leaf fell in my hair and he picked it out.”

“That’s so romantic,” Morisawa breathes. He bounces lightly in his seat. “That’s the best! It’s exactly right! I’m so happy for you, Kiryu...”

“Thank you,” Kuro says. He thinks if he tries to say more he’ll start crying for real, so he drinks more coffee instead, and then makes a beckoning motion. “What about you?”

“If I tell you the story I’ll start crying for real,” Morisawa warns.

Kuro shrugs. “We got napkins.”

“Okay, okay!” Morisawa laughs, starting to bounce in his seat again. “Well... It wasn’t like you and Hasumi, because Kanata and I... We’ve promised to be together for a while. We just hadn’t, you know, ‘put a ring on it’, as they say.” He laughs again. “We were just out buying some stuff for the house and we saw this really nice jewelry shop, and Kanata said he wanted to check it out! No pretense—he was like, ‘I want to see the rings~’” Morisawa imitates his fiancé’s floaty voice perfectly. “So we went in and looked at what they had, and we put in an order for rings we wanted. They said not many couples do that together, but that felt right for us... I liked seeing Kanata’s face looking at all the options.”

Kuro nods. “It fits ya. I always figured you’d be the type to ease into it like that.”

“Oh, Kiryu,” Morisawa says, tearing up again. “Just like it fits _you_ to do something so personal and sweet for Hasumi!”

“Yeah,” Kuro laughs, “I like flustering him. Except it was dark, so I couldn’t see him blush that well.”

“Still counts!” Morisawa places his hands on the table, palms down. “And then, the rings arrived in the shop a week later, and I’d almost forgotten about them when we got the call. I’ve been so busy with the show, and Kanata’s been busy at the aquarium... But Kanata picked the rings up while I was on set, so when I got home, he sat me down on the couch and took out the boxes and...”

At this point Morisawa starts crying again. He gestures at his own face. “I just, started bawling, like this... And Kanata p-put the rings on us and we just... Held each other, and...”

Kuro reaches across the table and squeezes Morisawa’s hands. He almost wishes they weren’t separated by a table, so he could throw his arm around Morisawa’s shoulders and hug him close.

“I’m so happy,” Morisawa blubbers, “’m so happy I get to be with him, an’ that you’re here, and you get to b-be with Hasumi...”

“Yeah,” Kuro whispers, now petting Morisawa’s forearms as well.

“Aaah,” Morisawa sighs. He takes a few shuddery breaths, and then wipes his eyes on the sleeve of his shirt. “I’m probably embarrassing you at your regular cafe, huh?”

“I don’t mind,” Kuro says honestly. “This is a happy memory too, so I want it to be here.”

“Aww...” Morisawa grabs a few paper napkins and blows his nose loudly into them. “Okay,” he says, once he’s mostly dried his face. “Okay. Here we are. Two engaged best friends!”

“Two engaged best friends,” Kuro nods. They grin across the table at each other.

“You’ll tell me when you start wedding planning, right?” Morisawa asks. He crumples up his napkin wad next to his coffee saucer. “There’s no way I’m missing it!”

“Of course,” Kuro says. “And you gotta do the same. I dunno what we’re doing yet, ‘cause Keito’s family might want us to do something specific, and I wanna make sure my sister’s in the country for it... But I’ll let you know.”

“Sure.” Morisawa nods. “I don’t know what we’re doing either! Wow! But it feels okay, you know? I know it _will_ happen. Like how I knew getting engaged would happen. It just fell into place, like I always knew it was meant to be.”

He swirls his coffee around, and Kuro watches him fondly. Morisawa’s still the same guy Kuro knew in high school, except changed, in subtle ways, for the better. His shoulders are broader, surer; his emotions are as strong and sincere as ever, but he knows them and himself better now; he’s still the charismatic, loving guy Kuro dared to rely on, except now Kuro doesn’t even hesitate to count on him. Kuro wonders if he looks like that to Morisawa too—older, surer, happier. He feels like it, more than ever now.

“Okay,” Morisawa says, rubbing his face one last time. “Now that that excitement is all talked about! You can tell me about work now.”

Kuro laughs, and obliges.


End file.
